


Secret Plans

by Mertiya



Series: Story Circle [25]
Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: And Jace is dumb but not THAT dumb, And certain other problems are ironed out, Established Relationship, Fix-It, In which certain continuity errors are fixed, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Spoilers for Hour of Devastation, Uncharted Realms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 08:36:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11619915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mertiya/pseuds/Mertiya
Summary: Jace has a plan for dealing with Bolas.  It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing.





	Secret Plans

            Just a little bit more. Jace—the little part of him stuck behind his thickest mental walls—focuses as hard as he can. _Gideon_ , he thinks in frustration. _Why wouldn’t you listen to me when I said we needed a_ plan _?_ He could have kept them out of it. Maybe. And now—Jace’s mind is strained to breaking point, and this is _not_ where he wants to be—fighting the damn twenty-five-thousand-year-old dragon _again_. _I’m going to lose more than a toe this time._

He follows the trail that Bolas has helpfully laid down for him, most of his mind doing so because Jace has helpfully removed from those parts the memories of facing him before. _Gods, I am really, really stupid_ , he thinks, shaking his head. Because if this is how he reacts when he doesn’t have personal knowledge of the situation, he may have to overhaul some of his thoughts, because this is _incredibly_ stupid.

            _There_. He has it. Jace risks, for one split second, letting all of himself out, because he needs this—he _needs_ to be able to take the information, and if only Bolas doesn’t notice—

            He doesn’t. He’s too certain of himself, too certain he’s already seen all of Jace there is to see. _Thanks, Gideon_ , Jace thinks, and that’s when it starts to go wrong, because the pain in his head is overwhelming and it’s unraveling something at the base of his spine, something that’s—that’s intricately tied with _himself_ , and all of Jace screams in unison as that _piece_ , that _spark_ is being ripped, it’s being shredded, it’s—

            He has to leave. It doesn’t matter that he’s leaving his friends to certain death; it’s a blind idiot instinct that grabs Jace, pulling him backwards, the Eternities blooming around him in an instant; it’s the moment that his spark ignited, that same desperate reaction of a wounded animal, but, oh _god_ , it hurts. It _hurts_ —

            _crimson blood or crimson flowers, he can’t tell, burn past his vision_

_lightning reflected in a crimson lake_

_something tearing at him, hot-cold pain-pleasure in his chest_

_we can do this we can do this_ I _can do this_

_an aether trail screams beside him_

_we can do this_

_please be all right Jace_

_we can_ do _this_

He falls, landing on his knees in gritty mud. His face is damp, and he’s shivering so hard that his teeth are clacking together in his head. He wraps his arms about himself, squinting around him, but his vision is blurred and strangely pink. All he can make out is the high trunk of some kind of tree, and a tangle of undergrowth, heavy with moisture.

            Everything hurts. Jace heaves himself to his feet, and a fit of coughing tears through his body. He stumbles sideways against a tree, sinking back against it. Mother of rains, what will have happened to Gideon? To Chandra? To Nissa? _Please let them have gotten away_ , Jace thinks miserably. He can’t have led them to their deaths—his plan can’t be responsible for this. Gods, he tried so hard to be careful and he _still_ underestimated Bolas. A sob bubbles up in his throat, and he coughs again. There’s a rising tang of copper in his mouth.

            Someone splashes through the mud towards him. Jace raises his hand, trying to draw mana, but the aftereffects of the massive mental spell are still ringing through his head, and he can’t focus enough to do it. If whoever it is isn’t a friend, he’s probably going to die now.

            “Jace— _shit_.”

            Oh, thank every god. Jace shuts his eyes, sagging. “I got it,” he murmurs. “I think?”

            “You’re bleeding— _fuck_ , Jace.” Ral’s arms around him, Ral holding him steady. Jace curls forward, sinking his hands into Ral’s shirt front and breathing in the scent of ozone and Ravnica. The scent of _home_.

            Ral is trying to say something, trying to get Jace to look up. Shit. He pulls back wearily and realizes that he’s left a trail of dark blood down Ral’s vest. “Sorry,” he says weakly.

            “Your nose is bleeding,” Ral says. “Fuck, Jace, what happened?”

            “I think—I think I have his plan,” Jace whispers. “It’s all muddled in my head, I’m going to need some time to think and sort things through.” He can feel the piece of Bolas’s mind burning in the back of his own, and it’s goddamn painful. “But I had to leave the others there, and I think he hit me pretty hard.”

            “You don’t fucking say. Here, sit down.”

            Jace barks out a laugh. “In the mud?”

            “Uh…okay, here. There’s a rock. Sit.” Ral shepherds him sideways and then carefully lowers him to the ground. Jace reaches up tiredly and tugs on his hand.

            “I’ll get my trousers all dusty,” Ral complains, and Jace shoots him a glare. “Oh, all right.” Ral seats himself beside Jace. “This isn’t where you’re supposed to be, you know,” he complains, which means he’s probably over his initial anxiety. Ral complains once he’s stopped being frightened out of his mind.

            “Yeah, I know,” Jace mutters. “I got in, I got what I needed, and then I got hit very hard. The Walk—it was nothing but instinct.” He feels Ral shiver and pull him closer.

            “I knew this was a stupid plan,” Ral says angrily. “I _knew_ you were going to get hurt again.”

            “With Bolas about to find out about the Gatewatch—I just didn’t know what else to do. We needed to stop stumbling around in the dark. We can’t work against him if we don’t know what his plan is. And they were so set on going to Amonkhet.” Jace shakes his head tiredly. “I should _tell_ them.”

            “That’ll blow everything wide open, you know it will,” Ral grunts. “You can’t protect that many minds, Jace.”

            Jace heaves a sigh. “I know,” he says quietly. “I—know.” He laughs bitterly. “I can barely even protect my own.”

            “Well, this is shit,” Ral says, running a hand through his hair. His gauntlet sparks, sudden and precise, and he looks down at it. “Fuck. Tezz is headed to Ravnica. Here’s hoping Bolas is just planning to yell at me for working too slowly and not anything else, but I’ll have to get back.”

            Wearily, Jace nods. “Can’t tip our hand,” he murmurs. “I hate dragons.”

            “So do I,” Ral agrees ferociously. “All I wanted to do was science,” he continues plaintively.

            “Go on,” Jace tells him. “You need to get back. I’ll be all right.”

            “And you aren’t coming why exactly?”

            Jace swallows. He’s been trying not to examine the torn place in the center of his chest any closer than he has to. “I—I don’t know if I can,” he admits finally, the tears suddenly gathering at the back of his eyes. “I told you, I—I got hit pretty hard.”

            Ral’s arm tightens about him in sudden concern. “Jace?”

            “I’m used to managing on strange planes, I’ll be okay,” Jace tells him. “Just—you know—maybe come back when you can?” He forces a smile.

            “Fuck,” Ral swears, shaking his head, and the lightning runs down his back like water. “Baal’s _fucking_ balls. This is not the way things should be going.”

            Groaning, Jace leans against him. “It never is. I _hate_ being a hero.”

            “You’d better be able to get back soon,” Ral tells him. “And maybe then you’ll listen to me and start actually remembering to be Guildpact.”

            Guilt wells up in Jace’s chest again, heavy and miserable. “I know,” he mutters. “I know, I know, I’m sorry, I—”

            “Oh, shut up, Jace. This whole thing is a fucking mess.”

            “Yeah.” Jace turns sideways and kisses Ral, and Ral leans into the kiss, one hand tangling and tugging at Jace’s hair, his teeth worrying at Jace’s lower lip. For a moment, Jace loses himself in it, lets the warmth of his lover replace the fear and exhaustion, and then he sags a little, breaking the kiss but leaning against Ral’s forehead, letting their breath mingle. “We can do this,” he says fiercely. “We can save the multiverse.”

            “Fuck the multiverse,” Ral responds, but there’s no heat in it. “I have to get to Ravnica,” he says reluctantly. “Take care of yourself and do not get eaten by any monsters before I get back here, okay, Jace?”

            Jace has to laugh at that. “I’ll do my best,” he says. “They’ll never know I was here.”

            “Good, because I don’t want to have to fry everything on this stupid plane, whatever this stupid plane is. I’m pretty sure it’s in the boyfriend laws that you have to fry things that eat your boyfriend.”

            “Then you need to be careful, too,” Jace tells him. “I’m no good at lightning, so if you get eaten by a giant dragon, I’ll have no recourse.”

            “Hmm,” Ral grins lazily. “Well, it would force you out of your comfort zone.” He stands up, stretching. “Don’t worry,” he says, the grin turning shark-like. A spark leaps from his gauntlet to his other hand. “I am good at dealing with dragons. I’ve had a lot of practice.”

            Jace squeezes his hand. “I’ll see you soon,” he says steadily, and Ral nods, his expression turning achingly tender for a moment.

            “Well, time to save the multiverse, since apparently no one _else_ is capable of it,” he grouses, and Jace feels the heat of the Eternities open as Ral Walks—so near and so far.

            _We can do this_ , he tells himself again. _We can be the heroes. Bolas won’t know what hit him._


End file.
